The X-Files
Australian Conne-X-ion
Episode Guide:
"How The Ghosts Stole Christmas"
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Episode 6ABX08
Title: How The Ghosts Stole Christmas
First screened in Australia: March 17, 1999
First screened in the USA: December 13, 1998
Credits:
Director: Chris Carter
Writer: Chris Carter
Starring:
Guest Stars:
- Edward Asner as Maurice
- Lily Tomlin as Lyda
Plot:
'Tis the night before Christmas
At a dark, Gothic house
Where two creatures are stirring
As they play cat and mouse
With Scully and Mulder
Who've arrived on the scene
To explore double-murders
Since 1918.
Actually, it's three double murders over the past 80 years. The first is a lovers' suicide pact on Christmas Eve, Mulder tells Scully, who reluctantly joins him inside the fog-shrouded structure. A flash of lightning, a slammed door and a rattled chain later, they indeed discover a dead couple, followed by individual meetings with a couple of live wires, who offer analysis about the agents' motivations for this holiday activity.
US TV Guide
On the night before Christmas, Mulder convinces Scully to put aside her gift wrapping and stake out a reputed haunted house. But they discover a married couple (guest stars Lily Tomlin and Edward Asner) living in the house, keeping a secret the agents never expected.
Fox Press Release
My Rating: 8/10
This episode really copped a hammering from some online "critics" but, if you consider it as a standalone episode, albeit outside the normal X-Files universe ... like "Musings Of A Cigarette Smoking Man", in a way ... (did it really happen?), it's quite good IMHO. Sure, the motives of the characters are a little flimsy (why is Mulder staking out a haunted house, why would Scully bother to turn up, why would the Ghosts like to see another double murder/suicide?) but there are some good special effects - the house itself is brilliant, and what a library! (Ed Asner commented on the very expensive set in his interview in the Sun-Herald on Sunday 14 March, 1999). The body "holes" use the same technology as "Death Becomes Her" but there's nothing wrong with that. There are some creepy parts, as you would hope with a haunted house episode, such as the bodies under the floorboards (how would you feel if you saw a dead body that was you?) and it's a real return to the "dark" atmosphere the show is famous for; rather than the sun-bleached episodes so far in season 6.
I always fall for the humour - even the smallest amount can be a joy - and this episode has some nice lines from Mulder and Scully but especially from the Ghosts in their "pop psychology" analysis of M&S. (See my favourite quotes below for some examples.) Scully has some brilliant facial reactions such as the "I got your back" scene; the Mulder/ scary torch scene and when she's scared by Lily Tomlin's entrance. It's also good to see David Duchovny stretching a little ... his Jack-Nicholson-The-Shining-maniacal 365 more shopping days scene
All in all, it's an enjoyable episode. Just don't take everything so seriously! Not every episode can be drenched in mythological overtones, conspiracy and earth-threatening events.
A final point, what are the odds that Chris Carter deliberately didn't show the presents Scully and Mulder gave each other. No doubt whatsoever. I can just see the heated debates that issue is going to invoke.
Notable Quotable:
Mulder: Tell me you're not afraid.
Scully: All right. I'm afraid... but it's an irrational fear.
Scully: (Looking at the corpse under the floorboards) Mulder, she's wearing my outfit.
Mulder: How embarrassing.
Maurice: Are you overcome by the impulse to make everyone believe you? (Mulder looks at him, surprised.) I'm in the field of mental health. I specialize in disorders and manias related to pathological behavior as it pertains to the paranormal.
Mulder: Wow. I didn't know such a thing existed.
Maurice: My specialty is in what I call soul prospectors-- a crossaxial classification I've codified by extensive interaction with visitors like yourself. I've found you all tend to fall into pretty much the same category.
Mulder: And what category is that?
Maurice: Narcissistic, overzealous, self-righteous egomaniac.
Mulder: That's a category?
Maurice: You kindly think of yourself as single-minded but you're prone to obsessive compulsiveness workaholism, antisocialism... Fertile fields for the descent into total wacko breakdown.
Mulder: I don't think that pegs me exactly.
Maurice: 'Cause you're a lonely man. A lonely man chasing paramasturbatory illusions that you believe will give your life meaning and significance and which your pathetic social maladjustment makes impossible for you to find elsewhere. You probably consider yourself passionate, serious, misunderstood. Am I right?
Mulder: "Paramasturbatory"?
Maurice: Most people would rather stick their fingers in a wall socket than spend a minute with you.
Lyda: Oh, you poor child. You must have an awful small life. Spending your Christmas Eve with him... Running around chasing things you don't even believe in.
Scully: Don't come any closer.
Lyda: (coming closer) I can see it in your face... The fear... The conflicted yearnings... A subconscious desire to find fulfillment through another. Intimacy through co-dependency.
Scully: What?
Lyda: Maybe you repress the truth about why you're really here pretending it's out of duty or loyalty-- unable to admit your dirty little secret. Your only joy in life is proving him wrong.
Mulder: (maniacal) It's me or you... You or me. One of us has to do it.
Scully: Mulder, look... We don't have to do this.
Mulder: Oh, yes, we do.
Scully: We can get out of here.
Mulder: Even if we could what's waiting for us? More loneliness! And then 365 more shopping days till even more loneliness!
Scully: I don't believe what you're saying! Mulder, I don't believe a word of it.
Scully: Mulder... None of that really happened out there tonight... That was all in our heads, right?
Mulder: (unsure of what to say) I-it must have been.
Scully: Mmm. Not that, uh, my only joy in life is proving you wrong.
Mulder: When have you proven me wrong?
Scully: Well... Why else would you want me out there with you?
Mulder: You didn't want to be there?
(Scully has no answer. They both think about it.)
Mulder: (self-analyzing) Oh, that's, um... That's self-righteous and...narcissistic of me to say, isn't it?
Scully: No, I mean... Maybe I did want to be out there with you.
Where Have I Seen That Face Before?
Lily Tomlin (Lyda) and Edward Asner (Maurice) are two of the biggest "name" guest stars the show's had in it's six seasons. One of Tomlin's big roles early in her career was "Nashville" and well-known movies since then include "Nine To Five", "Big Business", "Short Cuts" and "The Player" (two of my personal favourites). She also played Miss Hathaway in the movie version of "The Beverly Hillbillies".
Asner gained fame mainly from TV roles such as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Lou Grant" plus the blockbuster mini series "Roots" and "Rich Man Poor Man". Movie roles include "For Apache The Bronx", "Daniel", "JFK" and "Hard Rain".
The Pain Factor:
Mulder gets a real headache when he walks full force into a wall while Scully hits the floor hard when she faints after seeing Maurice's gunshot wound. The pair then receive gunshot wounds of their own and bleed profusely before realising they're not real.
Trivia:
The original title of this epiosde was "The Ghosts That Stole Christmas" which is the title of the book Lyda shows Mulder.
There is a close up of a clock with it's interior embossed with the name of J. Cameron. This is no doubt a reference to director James Cameron's near obsession that all the clocks shown aboard his Titanic set bare the correct time.
